Editing Trinitite (section)

{{short description|Glassy mineral left in the dirt after the plutonium-based Trinity bomb test}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
[[File:Trinitite from Trinity Site.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Trinitite]]
'''Trinitite''', also known as '''atomsite''' or '''Alamogordo glass''',<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/trinitite-trinity-test-mineral-cultural-jewelry|title=The Long, Weird Half-Life of Trinitite|last=Giaimo|first=Cara|date=2017-06-30|work=Atlas Obscura|access-date=2017-07-08|language=en|df=mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="smithmag"/> is the glassy residue left on the desert floor after the [[plutonium]]-based [[Trinity (nuclear test)|Trinity nuclear bomb test]] on July 16, 1945, near [[Alamogordo, New Mexico]]. The glass is primarily composed of [[Arkose|arkosic]] sand composed of [[quartz]] grains and [[feldspar]] (both [[microcline]] and smaller amount of [[plagioclase]] with small amount of [[calcite]], [[hornblende]] and [[augite]] in a [[Matrix (geology)|matrix]] of sandy [[clay]])<ref name="Ross">{{cite journal |last1=Ross |first1=Clarence S. |authorlink1=Clarence S. Ross |title=Optical properties of glass from Alamogordo, New Mexico |journal=American Mineralogist: Journal of Earth and Planetary Materials |date=1948 |volume=33 |issue=5–6 |pages=360–362}}</ref> that was melted by the atomic blast. It was first academically described in ''[[American Mineralogist]]'' in 1948.<ref name="auto1">{{cite journal |last1=Eby |first1=G. Nelson |last2=Charnley |first2=Norman |last3=Pirrie |first3=Duncan |last4=Hermes |first4=Robert |last5=Smoliga |first5=John |last6=Rollinson |first6=Gavyn |title=Trinitite redux: Mineralogy and petrology |journal=American Mineralogist |date=2015 |volume=100 |issue=2–3 |pages=427–441 |doi=10.2138/am-2015-4921 |bibcode=2015AmMin.100..427E |s2cid=130527683 |url=http://www.helfordgeoscience.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Eby-et-al-2015.pdf}}</ref>

It is usually a light green, although red trinitite was also found in one section of the blast site,<ref name="auto1"/> and rare pieces of black trinitite formed.<ref name="beauty">{{cite news |last=Williams |first=Katie |date=November 2, 2017 |title=The beauty created by the 'Destroyer of Worlds' |url=http://news.unm.edu/news/the-beauty-created-by-the-destroyer-of-worlds |work=The University of New Mexico Newsroom |location= |access-date=May 24, 2021}}</ref> It is mildly radioactive but safe to handle.<ref>Kolb, W. M., and Carlock, P. G. (1999). ''Trinitite: The Atomic Age Mineral''.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.orau.org/health-physics-museum/collection/nuclear-weapons/trinity/trinitite.html |title=Trinitite |work=ORAU Museum of Radiation and Radioactivity |publisher=Oak Ridge Associated Universities |access-date=October 7, 2021}}</ref><ref>''[http://www.hscott.net/analyzing-trinitite-a-radioactive-piece-of-nuclear-history/ Analyzing Trinitite]'', Hunter Scott.</ref> Pieces of the material remain at the Trinity site {{As of|2018|lc=y}},<ref>{{cite news |last=Burge |first=David |date=April 4, 2018 |title=Have a blast: Trinity Site allows public to visit where first atomic bomb was tested |url=https://eu.elpasotimes.com/story/news/military/2018/04/05/trinity-site-nuclear-history-first-atomic-bomb-open-house/483618002/ |work=The El Paso Times |location= |access-date=May 27, 2021}}</ref> although most of it was bulldozed and buried by the [[United States Atomic Energy Commission]] in 1953.<ref>Carroll L. Tyler, AEC letter to the Governor of New Mexico, July 16, 1953. Nuclear Testing Archive, NV0103562: https://www.osti.gov/opennet/detail?osti-id=16166107</ref>